Style and Suspense

Rating: Null/10 (5 October 2003)

I was spending several months in Bristol almost two and a half years ago when this film hit British Cinemas. It wasn't until American cinemas received the film that I happened to see it. I was certainly missing an intense experience. Horror is the poorest of all genres. That is to say, there are fewer decent films in the horror genre than in any other genre. I have only one expectation from a horror film - I want to walk out of the dark theatre and drive home looking over my shoulder the entire way. I want to go back to my empty home and spend the night sleeping with my back against the wall. 28 Days Later delivered just such an experience. The film is very stylised in its filming and directing. The various low-grade films provide a harsh, more realistic look. The atmosphere of fear is perfectly developed. This film did not consist merely of the long string of sudden surprises that usual make a horror film. There was much that was genuinely scary. I especially found the chapel scene to be so. As the film moves toward its second half, the focus is taken away from the infected and placed upon the drama of human interactions in this crisis. If the film had a weak point, this was it. By the time the infected appear again for the penultimate sequence, this focus shift had become so resolute that the infected chasing through the manor held little of its previous intensity. As a whole it was the most enjoyable horror film I have ever seen. I spent two nights with my back against the wall.